The Edgewood City Council, in a special called meeting July 7, accepted the immediate resignation of Police Chief Henry Askew.

Askew had been the police chief since 2005.

The resignation comes one week after a town hall meeting that included Askew yelling at residents and council members. One of the topics of the meeting was a letter the police department mailed to residents who were not in compliance with a new parking ordinance. The ordinance stated residents could only park on improved surfaces at their homes and not on grass or dirt.

Approximately 80 residents were in attendance at the town hall meeting. At the meeting, Askew addressed the crowd and blamed the harsh wording of the letter on the fact that the city council gave him only four hours to get the letters out.

Residents started raising their voices to Askew. At one point Askew told council members “to sit down and hush up, I have the floor.” He also said “I don’t care if the council fires me tonight.”

Askew was escorted out of the building by Mayor Charlie Prater and Council member Louis Dunn.